In a startling episode, a teenager was taken into custody shortly after a shooting incident rocked Virginia State University. The violent occasion coincided with the arrival of freshmen settling into campus life.

While fortunately, none of the five people struck by gunfire lost their lives, one individual remains in critical condition as of Saturday night, fighting to recover in hospital.

Authorities apprehended a 19-year-old, unaffiliated with VSU, just hours after the event. The suspect was discovered hiding within a campus closet and taken into custody on Saturday afternoon.

This arrested individual now faces eight serious charges, including malicious wounding and the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, as confirmed by the Chesterfield County Police.

Details surrounding the teenager’s alleged motivations and any potential ties to the university remain undisclosed by investigators.

Campus police and Chesterfield County officers discovered five people suffering from gunshot wounds in the university’s Quad Annexes outside campus dormitories.

At least one of the wounded was later confirmed to be a student.

The shooting was still under investigation later on Saturday and happened as Virginia State’s academic year began. 

Many students completed the university’s ‘New Trojans Experience’ for incoming students hours earlier, where they received university pins and listened to a speech by former NFL quarterback Cam Newton.

Residence halls opened for students a week ago, and classes resume on Monday. 

Police and university officials have not publicly identified any of the victims. The five were taken to hospitals, and one initially listed as having life-threatening injuries has been upgraded to critical condition, county police said.

The others suffered non-life-threatening injuries. 

The person confirmed to be a student was among those whose injuries were not life-threatening, and the student has been released from a hospital, the university said.

VSU has a long history of shootings with five people wounded in three attacks in 202 and one wounded and one killed near campus last year. 

The university said in a statement early Saturday that the shooting involved ‘multiple suspects’.

Police later said they did not believe there was an immediate threat to the campus community, and the lockdown had been lifted.

‘VSU Police will maintain an increased presence on campus as the investigation continues,’ the university said.

‘Students should monitor their VSU email for additional safety measures currently in effect and information about available support resources.

‘Although the lockdown has been lifted, members of the VSU community are asked to remain mindful of the ongoing law enforcement activity and avoid the immediate area where investigators are processing the scene.’ 

Local leaders expressed dismay at the shooting and sent their best wishes to the wounded victims.

‘Virginia State University is my alma mater. Waking up to this news is heartbreaking,’ Rozia Henson, a Democratic Party member of the Virginia House of Delegates, said.

‘My prayers are with everyone affected this morning, with their families, and with the entire Trojan family. VSU, we are with you.’

Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger said she and her husband were praying for those who were recovering from their wounds.

‘Adam and I are praying for a quick recovery for those who were shot this morning at Virginia State University, and our thoughts are with the VSU community,’ she said.

‘Thank you to the first responders and law enforcement who responded to the scene.’

Paramount Skydance’s attempted $81 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery has sparked legal action that may jeopardize a crucial funding source for California’s Democratic Party. Influential executives from Big Media, regarded as significant financial contributors, are expressing concern, as revealed by The Post.

Within this vibrant industry, directors, screenwriters, stagehands, and journalists at companies merging entertainment with news—like Warner, Paramount, Disney, and Comcast—vastly outnumber top executives and tend to lean Democrat. Nonetheless, the substantial financial backing for political campaigns, both within California and nationally, predominantly stems from higher-level executives.

According to insider information, things might take a turn since California Attorney General Rob Bonta, alongside progressive attorneys general, have initiated a lawsuit intended to disrupt Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. Entertainment leaders, many of whom are based in Hollywood—Bonta’s own jurisdiction—are urging a settlement with David Ellison, the head of Paramount Skydance.

This call for negotiation isn’t necessarily motivated by an affinity for Ellison, an emerging producer supported significantly by his wealthy father, Larry Ellison. Instead, these executives are driven by the precarious state of their industry, seeking to secure their own future.

Cord cutting continues to erode the profits from traditional cable packages, and movie theaters see a steep decline in attendance. Moreover, the burgeoning streaming sector remains a challenging arena. Looming ahead is Big Tech, with resources from their successful businesses poised to expand aggressively into entertainment.

In other words, media and entertainment need to consolidate because their survival is in danger — that is, unless you want Amazon, Apple or tech-heavy streaming giant Netflix owning the entire viewing world (how’s that for antitrust).

The fact is, combining smaller companies like Paramount and Warner is the test case for survival in a business where Big Media and Entertainment are hobbled by balance sheets impaired by debt and lack of scale.

Or as one top media executive — a longtime Democrat — put it: “If this one guy [Bonta] can stop a deal like this, it’s game over for the industry. Why would we support this?”

Wary of far-left tilt

Granted, I haven’t conducted a proper survey on this thesis with scientific markers and percentage-point margins of error. I did, however, put in a bunch of calls to reliable sources who know this terrain well. What they tell me is that the typical media executive isn’t the DSA voter Bonta seems to be appealing to. These are people who would be comfortable with Bill (or Hillary) Clinton, and Barack Obama when he indulged the centrist side of his ID.

The sources are progressive mainly around social issues, don’t mind paying some of those high taxes to live in Cali, but are growing wary of the far-left tilt of the party. The homeless situation in LA and other California cities is a factor. The inept governance of politicians like LA Mayor Karen Bass is another. On top of it all, lower-cost venues without endless homeless encampments are offering incentives to shoot movies on their turf.

Yes, the insiders’ biggest concerns involve economics. And now a bunch of emerging lefty Dem pols like Bonta are acting purely politically, seemingly clueless about one of the state’s biggest businesses, employing some 700,000 people and producing $70 billion in tax revenues each year.

The pure- politics worry from the Hollywood C-suite comes from its legal counsel, who see no merit — like zero —  in Bonta’s claim that consumers will be screwed by the merging of these companies and that by breaking up the merger,  jobs somehow will be preserved.

Without consolidation, the Warner studio faces uncertainty given its debt load and lack of scale. Ditto for Paramount unless David Ellison can convince his dad to keep feeding his ambitions because its core business is even more troubled than WBD’s.

They all believe Bonta wants to be governor, sees his opening in the state’s progressive wing, and is ­using the case to gain name recognition — and do a little Trump bashing because of Larry Ellison’s friendship with the president.

As they’ve pointed out, the lawsuit puts Bonta and his team of recalcitrants, which includes NY AG Tish James, to the left of the European Union and the UK regulatory apparatus, some of the least deal-friendly types on the planet.

And they’re making their voices heard. That’s why you hear current California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the frontrunner to replace him, Xavier Becerra, calling for Bonta to enter settlement talks. That’s why all these folks, albeit quietly, are supporting David Ellison’s threat to take Paramount out of California to a place that actually wants the industry to survive, unless Bonta gets reasonable and drops his demands for spinning off vast pieces of Warner as the cost of doing a deal.

The bet in Hollywood is that pressure on Bonta will prevail and there will be a settlement. Still, if you’re playing Kalshi or Polymarket on this one, also remember that this isn’t Clinton’s or Obama’s Democratic Party.

Prince Harry has taken a heartfelt step by redirecting his Diana legacy funds from the long-standing recipient, Sentebale, to Elephants Without Borders, a dedicated African elephant conservation charity. This marks a shift from his ongoing commitment to Sentebale, the charity he established to aid orphans in memory of his late mother.

Alongside his brother William, Harry shares the annual proceeds from the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund. This year, instead of continuing the tradition of supporting Sentebale, he chose to back Elephants Without Borders in Botswana, highlighting his enduring passion for wildlife preservation.

In recognition of his generous gesture, the charity has named two elephants after Harry’s children, Archie and Lili. This tribute symbolizes both his personal and philanthropic connections to the cause.

Dr. Mike Chase, the charity’s founder, expressed his appreciation, noting the Duke’s unwavering support throughout their two-decade friendship. He considers Harry’s involvement as a ‘tremendous honour’ that strengthens their shared conservation mission.

The funds have been effectively utilized to affix satellite-tracking collars on two illustrious elephants in Botswana’s Okavango Delta. Each collar, chosen by Archie and Lili, adds a personal touch to the initiative; Archie went with a blue one, and Lili opted for purple. This act enhances both conservation efforts and a family legacy.

Dr Chase told The Telegraph that he was ‘deeply grateful’ for the support through the Diana Memorial Fund and hoped the Duke’s ‘very strong passion for the Okavango Delta, Botswana, its people, and its wildlife’ would be inherited by his children.

‘It means a great deal to us and to the elephants we are working so hard to protect,’ he said.

‘We wanted to pass on that legacy to the kids, in the hope that his passion for Okavango and Botswana would rub off on them, and to allow them to monitor the elephants in real time across the world.’

The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund was founded shortly after her death in 1997 and was closed in 2012. It is now legally controlled by the Royal Foundation.

Although it no longer actively fundraises, it still receives some legacies and donations. An agreement was made to divide future proceeds between the two brothers for charities of their choosing when Harry and Meghan quit royal duties in 2020.

Annual accounts filed by the Royal Foundation of the Prince and Princess of Wales, show Sentebale has received £43,866 from the Diana fund since 2020, with the last payment of £16,743 made in 2024.

The latest accounts reveal that in 2025, for the first time, Prince Harry’s share, which was then £5,432, went to Elephants Without Borders.

Meghan, who enjoyed a romantic break to Botswana with Prince Harry shortly after they met, when the pair joined Dr Chase in tracking and tagging the animals on World Elephant Day, has also previously donated to the charity, giving her fee for narrating the Disney film Elephant to them.

The charity switch follows Harry’s explosive and very public fallout with Sophie Chandauka, Sentebale board chairman, which has led to him being sued for defamation.

Ms Chandauka has accused him of ‘operational disruption and reputational harm’ to the charity he co-founded in 2006 to support young people living with HIV and Aids in Lesotho and Botswana by conducting an ‘adverse media campaign’.

A court action was filed in the High Court against Harry and another former trustee, Mark Dyer, in March this year.

Harry has rejected the allegations as ‘offensive and damaging’.

Once so close to Harry’s heart, he even gave Sentebale an extra donation of £1.2million from the profits of his no-holds-barred memoir Spare.

But a bitter public power struggle ensued for control over the charity after a dispute with Sophie Chandauka which led to Prince Harry and his fellow founder Prince Seeiso along with a group of trustees resigning from the charity in March 2025.

However, the Charity Commission strongly criticised all sides when it published a report into the row, rapping them for playing out the dispute in public.

The regulator said all trustees contributed to a ‘missed opportunity’ to sort out the issues, potentially causing wider damage to the charity sector by eroding public confidence.

However, while it acknowledged ‘the strong perception of ill treatment’ felt by some parties involved, it found no evidence of systemic bullying or harassment, including misogyny or misogynoir at the charity, which Ms Chandauka had alleged.

A source said in August 2025 that Harry had been left emotionally devastated by the events, after 19 years of working with the charity.

In a statement when the case was filed, Sentebale said it was seeking the court’s ‘protection’ because its work had been undermined ‘following a coordinated adverse media campaign conducted since 25 March 2025 that has caused operational disruption and reputational harm’.

It said Prince Harry and Mark Dyer had been ‘identified through evidence as the architects of that adverse media campaign’, adding:

‘Sentebale has experienced the adverse media campaign as false narratives circulated through the media about the charity and its leadership, attempts to undermine its relationships with staff, existing and prospective partners, and the forced diversion of leadership time and resources into managing a reputational crisis not of the charity’s making.’

When the case was filed, a spokesman for Prince Harry and Mark Dyer said the charity should be focusing its efforts on the communities supported by Sentebale, rather than pursuing legal actions.

A national bank regulator, appointed during Donald Trump’s presidency, has given part of the Trump family’s cryptocurrency venture provisional approval to form a bank charter. This strategic move could unlock access to larger clientele and potentially increase profitability.

This development marks a historic milestone in the U.S., as it is the first instance where a company linked to the family of a sitting president has attained bank status. This decision has raised eyebrows among Democratic lawmakers who worry about possible conflicts of interest.

On Friday, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency revealed in a letter that World Liberty Trust Co.—38% owned by a Trump-connected entity and some family members—has been authorized to issue stablecoin cryptocurrency pegged to the U.S. dollar.

Previously, World Liberty Financial, the entity backing the conditionally approved trust, depended on the third-party crypto firm BitGo for a stable digital currency. The new approval enables the Trump family’s business to bypass intermediaries and provide the service directly.

While digital currencies, such as Bitcoin, usually exhibit extreme price fluctuations, they tend to be less attractive for organizations engaged in large-scale transactions.

Crypto tied to more stable values, like the U.S. dollar or the price of gold, can be more attractive to big spenders and can be “marketed for use as a means of making payments, transmitting money, or storing value,” according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The decision allows the Trump-linked business to act as a bank, issuing digital currency to clients for transactions. Clients would exchange the U.S. dollar for the stablecoin, with profits going directly to the Trump family’s crypto business.